And if we had been asked about the theft of Northern Rock....

"The results of a Zogby Interactive poll...show 68% of those surveyed were opposed to federal bailouts for ailing Wall Street financial firms holding soured mortgage portfolios....A majority, 54%, said they also did not support government assistance for the tens of thousands of Americans who are facing foreclosure on their homes. A minority, 43%, of those polled said the government should help distressed homeowners who could lose their properties to foreclosure".

As to "the 25% of those canvassed believ[ing] that the government should help financial firms struggling to manage hefty losses", I am reminded of this classic from Catch 22:

"Major Major's father was a sober God-fearing man whose idea of a good joke was to lie about his age. He was a long-limbed farmer, a God-fearing, freedom-loving, law-abiding rugged individualist who held that federal aid to anyone but farmers was creeping socialism".